Fenestraz secures maiden Eurocup victory at wet Monaco

Sacha Fenestraz was triumphant in a very wet Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0 Series race at Monaco that was curtailed prematurely due to a three-car crash at Ste Devote.

The race began behind the safety car with rain falling, and was also affected by a mid-race safety car for a two-car crash between Jehan Daruvala and Bruno Baptista, and then ended when Harrison Scott and Gabriel Aubry crashed at Ste Devote, with Will Palmer finding himself with nowhere to go as a result.

Both Scott and Aubry cleared the track under their own power but the stewards had already thrown the red flag, with the race not restarting despite over six minutes still showing on the clock.

In the brief moments between the stoppages, Fenestraz controlled the race from the front, with the Tech 1 Racing driver ending the race seconds ahead of Ferdinand Habsburg.

Habsburg was responsible for one of the moves of the race when, on the first lap after the green flag at the start of the race, the Fortec Motorsports driver passed a surprised Max Defourny at Massenet, a place traditionally not an overtaking spot, and then put some pressure on Fenestraz before Daruvala and Baptista’s incident brought out the safety car again.

Baptista made a largely optimistic move at the Nouvelle Chicane, with the Fortec Motorsports driver hitting Josef Kaufmann Racing’s Daruvala, with Baptista retiring with a deranged suspension, while Daruvala was able to continue, albeit well down the field.

Just as the safety car was set to return to the pit lane, it was forced to stay out for a few more laps as David Porcelli crashed at Ste Devote as he attempted to catch up on the pack after a spin.

Defourny secured the final spot on the podium despite finding himself finishing fourth on the road following a great move by Dorian Boccolacci, but the race result was taken back one lap due to the red flag, meaning Defourny kept the podium finish.

Nikita Mazepin was fifth in the leading AVF entry ahead of team-mate Henrique Chaves, while the red flag and one lap backtrack on the order meant that Scott took seventh ahead of Aubry and Palmer, with Julien Falchero completing the top ten.

After the race Scott was handed a one-place penalty for the race ending incident, meaning he switches places with Aubry in the final result.

After his post-qualifying penalty that relegated Lando Norris from pole position to the back of the grid, the Josef Kaufmann Racing driver did not have enough green flag running to do much overtaking, and could only advance to sixteenth.

With the race not reaching 75% distance due to the red flag, only half points were awarded to the top ten, meaning Norris still leads the championship despite his no score ahead of Defourny.